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June 12, 2018June 12, 2018

What Changes Can You Expect to See From MoviePass (Part 2)

In part two, I am going to look at the not so positive side of things, when it comes to MoviePass. In the beginning, I was completely on board with MoviePass. So much so that I encouraged you all to go out and get yourself a subscription. In the beginning, the hook was $9.97 a month , and you got access to all the movies that you could possible want to watch. That’s right. For the cost of less than one movie per month, you were able to go and see one movie per day. I mean, are there 30 movies that come out in a given month? This is what made the original deal so appealing. However, things at MoviePass started to change.

Recently, MoviePass made some changes to how many movies you could go and see, and then they made some changes to the price of the subscription. But now, they’re starting to crack down on fraudulent activity and are testing out a new Ticket Verification policy. Some subscribers received an email which indicated that they were “randomly” selected to take part in this Ticket Verification process.

“Starting over the next few days, each time you purchase a movie ticket with your MoviePass card, you will be asked to upload a photo of your ticket stub. This photo needs to be uploaded before you’re able to purchase your next movie ticket through MoviePass. If you fail to submit your ticket stub more than once, your account will be canceled and you’ll be ineligible to sign up for a new MoviePass account.”

That last sentence is pretty hard core, don’t you think? I mean, I understand wanting to ensure that people aren’t taking advantage of the system, but that seems like a bit much. MoviePass is saying that this is necessary as it will help keep better track of user behavior. They also want to make sure that users are following the Terms of Use. But is this the way to do it?

If you’ve been selected for the beta trial, you will continue to be able to check in to the movies through the MoviePass app, as per usual, but after checking in you’ll have to submit a photo of your ticket stub. MoviePass assures customers that this will only take a few seconds, and while that might be, it’s an added step that you have to do every time you go and see a movie. If you don’t submit your ticket right away, it’s not an immediate cut-off. You’ll be asked to provide an explanation about what happened.

I expect, if you forget to submit your ticket too many times, you will get cut off. I think, though, that this is going to drive customers away, rather than bringing people into your service. This also speaks to the fact that MoviePass has been struggling to keep up with the numbers. The whole system seems unsustainable. How can you allow people to go to the movies as often as they want because it’s MoviePass who has to reimburse the cinemas for the tickets?